Tuesday, February 21, 2017

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's two videos I took of Tony Harnell of TNT with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (and special guest Rachel Lorin in the second video). Both of these are from Friday, February 3 in the Pacifica Theater on the boat.TNT was scheduled to perform, but due to unforeseen circumstances, that fell through, but Tony and Bumblefoot (and Rachel) quickly pulled this great show together which included a fantastic cover of Paul McCartney and Wings "Maybe I'm Amazed":

Then Rachel Lorin was brought out and had some mic issues. While the stagehand came out to fix them, Bumblefoot treated us to the theme from "Jeopardy". Then all three did a mash up of TNT's "Tonight I'm Falling" with a cover of Heart's "Crazy On You":

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's 4 videos I took of Saigon Kick.I'll start with the one video I took during their set on the boat in the Pacifica Theater on the last day of the cruise, Monday February 6, 2017. Here they are doing "The Lizard":

They also played after D.A.D. and before Vince Neil at the pre-party on February 1 at Ferg's Live in Tampa before we set sail. I was streaming these three videos live via Facebook Live for friends at home, so the video quality is not hi-def, but looks alright as long as you don't blow it up to a big screen and the sound is really good. Set included "All I Want":

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's 5 videos (6 songs) I took of D.A.D. Like last year, they were the highlight of the cruise for me. Click here for the write up with plenty of videos and photos from last year.First up here's four videos from the cruise pre-party at Ferg's Live in Tampa, FL on February 1, 2017.Most of the videos from this night I streamed via Facebook Live, so the video quality isn't hi-def, but it's okay as long as you're not watching it on a big screen and the sound is great. I did shoot one non-live stream video in HD that night and I'll start with that. Here's "Grow or Pay":

They also played "Jihad":

and "Reconstrucdead":

and ended their set with "I Want What She's Got" into "Sleeping My Day Away":

D.A.D. also did a gig on the Pool Stage on the boat on Saturday, February 4, 2017. Here's "Girl Nation" from that set. This one is also in HD.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's 2 videos I took of Night Ranger.This was from Night Ranger's show on the last day, Monday, February 6, 2017 while sailing home. This was a special all acoustic show that took place in the Pacifica Theater. The did a great eight song set in which they opened with "When You Close Your Eyes":

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's 2 videos I took of Danger Danger with special guest guitarist Steve Brown of Trixter.This was from Danger Danger's show on Sunday, February 5, 2017 in the Pacifica Theater. First up we have "Don't Walk Away" which starts as Ted Poley ventures out to sing in the audience:

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's four videos I took of Faster Pussycat.These first three are from their show in the tiny (way too small for FP's crowd) Colony Club which took place at 8:00pm during the Super Bowl on February 5, 2017. They opened up with "Jack The Bastard" which was the only song in their 11 song set they didn't play less than 24 hours earlier at the "Infamous & Never Boring Faster Pussycat Pool Show" the night before:

Their set also included "The Power and The Glory Hole":

as well as their cover of Betty Blowtorch's "Shut Up and Fuck":

Plus here is one video from the night before where the boys did their cover of Carly Simon's "You're so Vain" with a little help from Oni Logan of Lynch Mob and Dio Disciples:

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's three videos I took of Black 'n Blue.All three are from their first show on the boat which was the last show of the night on the day we set sail - Thursday, February 2, 2017. They hit the stage about 12:15am and played a great 15 song set which included "Nasty Nasty":

I just got back from the 2017 Monsters of Rock Cruise aboard the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas. I'll be writing a full review but first want to upload all the videos and I'll link to them in the full review. I'll do a quick separate post for each band I shot video of.Here's three videos I took of Heavens Edge.The first two are from the second day of the cruise when they played on the outdoor Pool stage.Here's "Rock Steady"

and "Jacky"

This last video is from their second show which took place during the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 5 in the Pacifica Theater performing "Skin to Skin."

Monday, February 13, 2017

This post is mainly for the members of the "Everybody Loves Kev" Facebook group and I debated just individually uploading the 7 videos within to the group, but I felt there had to be a bit of a connecting story around them (so I could break balls...or ball for those in the know). So if you already know Kev, enjoy this look at our hero. I was laughing out loud for real numerous times while re-watching some of this mess (the memories were a tad hazy)...and if you don't know Kev, if you see him at a show after watching this, come up and say hi, he'll love it and if you're at a hard rock/metal show in the Tri-State area (or M3) keep an eye out for the him, he's hard to miss and often more entertaining than the band on stage. Now, on with the story...So me, Jimmy and Kev flew down to Tampa two days before the Monsters of Rock Cruise set sail last week on Thursday February 2, 2017. The first night was a mellow hang, the second night was a bit of a drink fest at the pre-party concert at Ferg's Live in Tampa (with D-A-D, Saigon Kick and Vince Neil - I'll do a separate full review of all the shows shortly, this is about one specific event on the boat). We got up early on Thursday, returned our rental car, packed our crap, wished we could sleep more as we fought various levels of hangovers, got to the port, checked in, got our drink packages (we each had 60 drink tickets - 40 good for drinks up to $12 - which covered basically any mixed drink and cheaper - plus 20 for drinks up to $7 - basically beer or cheaper) and boarded the ship sometime between 1 to 2 pm. First stop was the room to drop off our carry on's (and tell them to separate the queen bed into two singles as well as lower the bunk Kev would sleep on) and next stop was pool deck to grab a drink.So again, I'll get into the bands we saw and all that goodness in the next post, but let it be known the the drinking and rocking started immediately and continued through the last band of the night (we had a choice the first night to see either Black n Blue on the Pool Stage or Beasto Blanco in the tiny club...we went with Black n Blue) Show started about 12:15 and probably ended around 1:30.Things are a bit foggy at this point, but I'm pretty sure we went and got some late night eats (At that hour all they they had was soggy crappy pizza basically available at all hours after everything else was closed. If sober it would have sucked, but after about 11 hours of drinking, it was damn tasty).Now at this point each night, there's basically two options. Go to bed, which on this first night, the majority of cruisers did just that, or go up to the Viking Crown club on the top deck for the late night Karaoke with Izzy Presley and Brian party, which we did this and every other night.We headed up to deck 13 to find the few hardcore partiers singing some good tunes and some really really awful ones. Now these videos are in order and take place between 2:45 to 4:00am. There was supposed to be a last call at 2:00am, but we found basically in this club each night, they would just serve til the last person left (which often was 5am or later). This was supposed to be a bit of a gong show Karaoke where the hosts consistently make pretty damn funny sarcastic comments about the singers and would sometimes gong them to stop the performance. I have to say there were funny as hell and this was a blast each night.So we got there, we continued to drink and Kev had the itch...Now instead of signing up for Karaoke, Kev went into his multi lip sync/air instrument routine as he does at every show he attends.Now at a show, it's kind of understandable. The music and talent on stage take over your mind and body and you have to rock out, but it's rare to see that happen at karaoke (but again, drinking going on 12+ hours at this time so, there's that)...especially karaoke like this.Now this first video...Kev tries to "air sing" along which is hard because this is an awful version of Welcome to the Jungle where the vocals are not being sung where they are supposed to be. You can also see the club is pretty damn empty, so Kev had full use of the "stage." On most other nights this club would be insanely packed, so this is the night Kev truly was given the room to shine. You'll see this woman gets "gonged" soon after I start shooting:

I almost feel like I should save this for a get together to watch it together to see the reactions of a certain few of you (Anthony - I'm looking at you).

So yeah...there's your first short sweet taste...I think I hear you asking in your best Oliver Twist-esque voice "Please sir, May I have some more?" How can I deny that?

Now let me call something out here. We all saw Night Ranger kill on this song on the Pool Stage earlier that night and I swear that Kev is even rocking out harder to this version then when the actual band was killing it on stage! I do believe that's me and Jimmy yelling "motorin!" to of course egg Kev on.

Also - have you ever done Karaoke? I've done it tons of times, and I'm trying to think what it would be like doing it to a pretty close to empty dance floor except for one maniac who is WAYYYYYY too into it and in your face. Well you know what they say...everybody loves Kev!

Kev makes a friend here about a minute later into the song. This guy is a member of the "Squid Row" gang, some of whom we met and had dinner with in the restaurant one night. Within 5 minutes of coming into the karaoke earlier in the night, we witnessed this dude slow dancing bare ass with his shorts around has knees. Welcome to the Monsters of Rock Cruise.

By the way, I think around this point is where me and Jimmy are discussing how long it will be before Kev breaks that barrier and joins in the singing...I mean you all see it, you know it's coming...let's see what this next short clip brings:

Yes I know...it's STILL "Sister Christian" but everytime I stopped recording he brought it next level...I mean he's on his fucking knees here...hell yeah!!! Rock on!!!

Okay so this next one is a full song and the one where Kev finally gives in and grabs the mic...and it's probably at least 3:30am at this point...and with the lying on the floor and all that, you can see basically all of us are in the same inebriated state of mind...I give you "Creep" by Radiohead as you wish you never heard or saw it

Now Danny from Faster Pussycat wanted to do a little Neil Diamond and needed some help from Kev and others. Danny walks off about a minute into the tune and lets Kev and gang finish it. Perhaps my absolute favorite moment of all of this is at the 5:10 mark in this video when Kev hoarsely screams "I'm On A Boat Mother Fucker!!"

I take that back. My favorite moment is when the song is cut short and Izzy and/or Brian tell Kev and the other singers to jump off the back of the boat.

This last clip is just for the diehards. Nothing as epic as the above, just the last two minutes where Kev jumped in on a guy singing "Balls to The Wall."

I'm not sure what happened after this. This was supposed to be the last song and I think Jimmy left after the performance with Danny and then I went to the bathroom after this and Kev thought I left so I came back and they were gone and I ended up doing "Bohemain Rhapsody" with a bunch of people before heading to the room about 4:30. but about 14 or 15 hours after we boarded and probalby close to a third of our drink tickets used up, that was how the first night ended.If you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this linkand click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests!

Saturday, February 11, 2017

What a cool surprise this week when I was at the airport in Tampa coming back from vacation to check Facebook and see Tommy Stinson was going to be doing an in-store performance about 10 minutes from my place at Woodstock Music Shop in Kingston, NY on Saturday, February 11, 2017. Some of the performance was to be broadcast live on local radio station WDST and hosted by DJ Greg Gattine.(By the way - since you're reading this, you're obviously a fan of Tommy, so be sure to check out my post about Tommy and the L.A.M.F. super group show in NYC a couple of months back by clicking here. Lots of Great Video!)We got there about 15 minutes before the 1:00 pm start time to about 30 people milling about (about 50 would be in attendance by the time the show started) and flipping through the record bins and checking out the instruments. We went up by the small stage in the back and Tommy came out a few minutes later letting us know he would need volunteers to help out on kazoo for "On The Rocks", the fist single from the latest Bash & Pop album "Anything Could Happen." He handed out about 20 and asked we all gather round the mic and did a quick run through of the riff and telling us to go wild when he called for the solo when we were live on air. It was decided we (I say we, as the kazoo choir was the backing band for this appearance of just Tommy and his guitar) would open with this song.Greg Gattine introduced Tommy to the radio audience and he started off with a great rendition of "On the Rocks" and we on kazoo killed it! There was a young kid right up front and center in a Star Wars shirt that Tommy was talking to before the show and he dedicated the next song, "Anybody Else," to him. After the set, Tommy commented how glad he was to see parents bring their kids out to see and experience new live music.At this point, before the next song, Gattine asked Tommy when he was a child who he wanted to be when he grew up. The crowd threw out suggestions of Keith Richards and Johnny Thunders, but Tommy assured us it was Brian May of Queen and talked about meeting Brian during Tommy's stint as bassist in Guns n Roses for "Chinese Democracy" and how he stumped Brian with a jazz chord in a song he wrote for the album that Brian played on.Tommy then played "Bad News" - the sound and performances of all the songs were excellent and here's video I shot of this one:

Before playing the last song of the portion of the show to be aired live, Gattine asked Tommy to talk about the recording of the new Bash & Pop album here in the Hudson Valley where Tommy now lives. Tommy talked about how it was great to get together with his musician friends and basically record the album live in the studio how he used to do it and how he prefers to record. He then said he is trying to work out an idea to curate a "Friday Night Is Killing Me" party at Mountain Jam this year...as of now Bash & Pop is not on the bill, but hopefully this will happen! Tommy then played "First Steps."Gattine bid adieu to the radio audience and Tommy said he'd play a few more for us starting with the title track of the new album "Anything Could Happen" and then ending with "Not This Time". Here's the video I filmed of those two tunes:

Afterward Tommy stuck around and met with everyone, signing and taking pictures as requested. I got him to sign my poster for the one Replacements show I ever go to see on this past reunion tour. One of my all time favorite shows. It's always looked cool framed on my wall and looks cooler now with Tommy's signature. I had him sign my kazoo as well!What a great Saturday afternoon!If you dug this go to the MostPeopleAreBlank Facebook page by following this linkand click the "Like" button to join (as shown below) to be kept up to date on future posts, to comment, share and take part in our giveaways and contests!